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Archive for June, 2008

With this week being such a special week in both the US and Canada. By The Way Happy Canada Day to our friends on the other side of the northern border. I wanted to talk a little bit about personal freedom and what it means to me.

I know most of my readers are in business, starting a business, but all have the dream of personal freedom. They have the desire to make their own way.

Personal freedom is so broad and entails many aspects which are required to achieve success. personal freedom is when you can have freedom to do what you need to do by yourself

Personal freedom is therefore crucial in our lives. It talks freedoms to the maximum level to allow students to pursue the stated goals of their course and also to develop their own journals to reflect their understandings, ambitions, successes and yes failures. Personal reactions and the ability to express those reactions have never in history been more alive than they are right now.

”Too many people spend money they haven’t earned to buy things they don’t want, to impress people they don’t like.”
-Will Rogers

Tips and Techniques

Do you get tired of reading other people’s accomplishments especially when they list all the money they are making and you aren’t? That is when you need to read more, not about the accomplishment itself, but about the person. Find what is driving him.

All of this comes down to two questions. One are you your own best employee? Two Can you use the information provided to help you in knowing what kind of people you want in your organization?

Some people tell me that I am pretty rough. I have very specific qualifications that I am looking for in people to work with. If you visit http://www.winassoc.com and click on the join page where you find our affiliate program you will find that I offer the course, the first month FREE. But if one wants to continue on with me he has to prove completion of every lesson and every project. He has to send via fax a commitment letter. Yes, I do make people jump through a few hoops to become a protege. Why?

It takes time and it takes money invested to train someone to do what I do. Not everyone can do it. I know if they truly work at the first ten lessons, that first month and actually complete the projects they can succeed. It is work and some of it not so fun to do, but it all has to be done. When one is working for himself or herself, he has to get up in the morning and know what he is going to do that day. He knows how much income he wants to make and just exactly how he is going to do it. He doesn’t bellyache and complain. He just gets it all done.

I think one of my favorite books has been The Impossible Just Takes a Little Longer Living with Purpose and Passion By Art Berg In The Impossible Just Takes a Little Longer, Berg recounts his harrowing and inspirational story while imparting larger lessons about life, fear, and passion. I personally enjoy reading autobiographies and biographies of famous people. One silver thread you will find that runs the same through all of them is the impossible takes a little while longer.

Opportunity is never lost
It goes To Those Ready to Accept It!

Carolyn

Ice Breakers

Engineering Position

Bubba—-applied for an engineering position at a Lake
Charles refinery.

A Yankee applied for the same job and both applicants
having the same qualifications were asked to take a test
by the manager.

Upon completion of the test, both men only missed one
of the questions.

The manager went to Bubba and said: “Thank you for
your interest but we’ve decided to give the Yankee the
job.”

Bubba asked: “And why are you giving him the job?

We both got nine questions correct. This being Louisiana,
and me being a Southern boy I should ge t the job!”

The manager said: “We have made our decision not on the correct answers, but rather on the one question that you both missed.”

Bubba then asked: “And just how would one incorrect
answer be better than the other?”

The employee that will transition from employee to independent business person will have the basic qualifications. He already knows he has to work hard at the right things in order to produce the product and get it to the market place. He already knows that his livlihood depends on working with a company or individuals that produce the product that are like minded.

Why do you suppose so many companies especially MLM companies will stress that they ae “debt free” Why would that be of benefit to you as a potential franchisee?

It really isn’t any different than going to work for a reputable business. When you consider any organization as an employee, you want to be sure that your employer will be able to pay your wages.

When considering any business, think first about becoming and staying debt free. Being debt free gives one the kind of freedom it takes to make quick but lasting decisions. When you have debt, and especially a lot of it I can’t help but think of what the Bible teaches us. Debt makes you a slave. The more you dig yourself into debt, the more of a slave you become.

This is one single beauty of beginning and building your own home based business. You can start small, you can build by reinvesting into that business to make it grow.

A business built in this manner is just like having a child. In it’s first year it is totally dependant on you for everything. Just keep on working at it and one day it will take care of you in the manner you want it to. Push it too hard too fast and just like a child that doesn’t want to be held, it will do everything it can to get away from you.

Opportunity is never lost
It goes To Those Ready to Accept It!

Carolyn

Ice Breakers

Conversation

Friends and I were chatting over dinner in a restaurant.
A man at the next table told his cell-phone caller to hold on. Then he stepped outside to talk.

When he returned, I said, “That was very thoughtful.”

“I had no choice,” he nodded and said to me. “You were making too much noise.”

Thought for Today:
“People of mediocre ability sometimes achieve outstanding success because they don’t know when to quit. Most people succeed because they are determined to.”
-George E. Allen
1832-1907, Publisher and Author

Tips and Techniques

Is you business a newborn, a toddler, an adolescent, an adult or a mature entity? Each stage is treated differently and requires a different management style.

Working in management and working as a project manager, I learned there are also two kinds of employees. There are those who know their job security depends on the quality and quantity of work they do. Then on the other end of the spectrum, there are those who do just what is required of them and nothing more.

A good employee will be on the job the entire time they are on the job. The poor employee will find any number of reasons to leave their post to do anything except their job.

The good employee may or may not do well as a business owner. The poor employee will never be able to do well in a multi-level or Internet business.

“Carolyn, how can you say this?” you might ask. It takes comittment and hard work to build a business that will pay your wages and then some. It takes energy as well as desire. There is little to no investment to get started, therefore with little invested ones livlihood does not depend on building that business. In a franchise, one is expected to invest sometimes hundreds of thousands of dollars into that business. One is expected by the franchise to learn how to run his business in a profitable manner. The comittment is there. The comittement in both time and money.

Opportunity is never lost
It goes To Those Ready to Accept It!

Carolyn

Ice Breakers

Car Description

On duty as a customer-service rep for a car-rental company, I took a call from a driver who needed a tow.

He was stranded on a busy highway, but he didn’t know the make of the car he was driving.

I asked again for a more detailed description beyond “a blue four-door.”

After a pause, the driver replied, “It’s the one on fire.”

Thought for Today:

“Trust your hunches. They’re usually based on facts filed away just below the conscious level.”
Dr. Joyce Brothers
Psychologist and Television Personality

Tips and Techniques

Time is your friend when you invest your beans in the guy that will work. 80% of the work will be done by 20% of the people. I have found this to be true in groups, in organizations and in the workplace. Treat the man or woman who will work with respect, courtesy and appreciation and he will remain loyal.

In my humble opinion and over the years working for others and working for myself, I have found there are two kinds of employers.

A fair and just employer thinks first about his employees. He knowns in his heart that to take care of his employees is his greatest investment in his business.

The other employer creates a them and us atmosphere. There is management (the master) and the workers (the slave).

In order to operate a profitable business the business owner must always be cognizant of one thing. Yep, it is the bottom line. That business must make money if it is going to last. I knew quite well in the flower shop, that each employee must produce 4 times what I paid him or her in order for me to be able to afford to pay his salary. I knew that he must product 5 – 6 times what I paid him in order for me to pay his salary and be able to offer benefits of any kind.

How the employer determines the worth of his employees has everything to do with his values.

Think about every employer you have ever worked for. Where did they fit? They will be either one or the other. There appears to be no middle ground.

Opportunity is never lost
It goes To Those Ready to Accept It!

Carolyn

Ice Breakers

F-14

At the Oceana, VA., Naval Air Station, I was training a young ground-crew member on how to direct an F-14 into the fuel pit.

I glanced over to check wing clearance and, when I looked
back, discovered that he had taxied the aircraft too far forward for the fuel hose to reach. “You’ll have to send him
around again,” I informed the trainee.

“What?” he said, surprised. “They spend millions on these
things and you can’t put them in reve! rse?”

Thought for Today:

“The true road to personal improvement is not miraculous; it is slow and calls for a great deal of perseverance, but it is indeed possible to progress along this road, and your effort will be amply repaid.”
– David Fischman
Author of The Secret of the Seven Seeds

Tips and Techniques

Take Stock in yourself: What kind of employee are you? Can you give of yourself the quantity and quality of work that more than pays your salary?

For the past seven years in the Winning Way, we have been talking about the road to personal improvement.. Nothing was said that is more true that the way to a strong business is more about building you.

With multi-level marketing coming on the scene in the 70s and the Internet in the 80s the potential of anyone becoming a business owner became not only possible but quite probable.

When this country was established in the 1400s it was predominately farming with family owned business. Families lived and worked together. Eventually with steps toward progress families migrated to towns and cities. They worked in the factories, the mines and some were fortunate to continue having independent family owned business.

There has been a growing desire since the 70s to work from home. Why? It is pretty clear now with energy costs soaring and little security in big business why those with any ambition at all would prefer working for themselves than to expend their energies making someone else wealthy.

As I see it, there are two kinds of people in this world. One is clearly the employer. He has the ability to keep others busy, He is the leader. Through his own motives he will either care for or take advantage of those under his watch. The other kind of person is the employee. He comes to work every day. He does his job and expects to be paid for the hours he works. If he works well, then his employer will be able to pay him and everyone else in his industry. In our economy one depends on the other.

There is a specific mindset in these two kinds of people. it is this mindset that we will examine a bit closer this week.

Opportunity is never lost
It goes To Those Ready to Accept It!

Carolyn

Ice Breakers

I use to go out with a lovely lady who was attending the local university striving for a PHD in her chosen field of medicine,

Psychiatry.

But I had to throw in the towel, cuz I just couldn’t win.
If I was late for a date, I was hostile.

If I was early, I had an anxiety complex.

If I was on time, I was compulsive.”

Thought for Today:

My greatest point is my persistence. I never give up in a match. However down I am, I fight until the last ball. My list of matches shows that I have turned a great many so-called irretrievable defeats into victories.”
Bjorn Borg Professional Tennis Player

Tips and Techniques

If you don’t have a passion for what you are doing, find something else.

On my way home today, I was listening to a news program on the radio. I believe it was John Tesch that was talking about the stress and high stress lives we lead. He was saying that our teenagers are more apt to turn to drugs, alcohol and suicide because of a lack of sleep.

Yesterday, the same program was telling about how women who are pushing the limits of the glass ceiling are also having medical problems like heart attacks in greater numbers than ever before in our medical history. They are actually getting addicted to the adrenalin rush in our busy, busy lifestyles.

One of the keys in running a successful business is of course balance in every area of life. Taking time for yourself is part of that balance. When you set up your monthly calendar, the first thing to do is to set aside time for yourself.

Opportunity is never lost
It goes To Those Ready to Accept It!

Carolyn

Ice Breakers

Bumpers

Most people hate to parallel park. The other day, I saw this woman trying to get out of a tight parking space. She’d bump the car in front, then back-up and strike the car behind her.

This went on about 2 minutes.

I walked over to see if I could somehow help.

My offer was declined though. She said, “Why have bumpers if you’re not going to use them once in a while?”

Thought for Today:
”It takes courage to grow up and turn out to be who you really are.” – E.E. Cummings

Tips and Techniques

Goals are important! Pushing yourself to get things done is important, but these are not everything in life. Take time off to rest and relax. It isn’t just important it is vital. Nothing will stop you dead in your tracks faster than burn out.